Dionysus,
god of wine, is a deity of two natures. On the one hand, he is the bringer of
joy who eases the cares of humanity and spreads laughter and song. But on the
other hand, he is the god of wild, drunken violence, of the dangers of the inner
animal unleashed. Many worship him in his first aspect, but those who worship
him in his second aspect are a dangerous few. They race over the hills by night,
hunting in a drunken frenzy. While most maenads (though the word usually refers
to women, males can join this class as well) are dangerous, the feral maenad
is the most dangerous of all  when liberated by the spirit
of the vine, the feral maenad becomes more animal than person.

Barbarians,
druids and rangers are all most likely to become feral maenads, as they are
the classes who already are closer to their wild natures. Becoming a feral maenad
involves gaining a measure of animalistic ability, which is often tempting to
members of these classes. Clerics of Dionysus
are also potential initiates into this prestige class, although clerics of other
gods are very unlikely to become feral maenads. Fighters and rogues who take
this path are rare, although some might find the new abilities and practices
quite liberating. wizards
and sorcerers lose too much by giving up rationality for savagery to benefit
much from the class, and paladins and monks are incompatible with the wild,
undisciplined path of the maenad.

NPC feral maenads are usually
encountered leading their own bands of maenads or maenads, roaming the countryside
in sacred night revels. Some give themselves over wholly to their savage aspect,
and are wild hermits and hunters even when sober. Others live surprisingly civilized
lives by day, surrendering to drunken abandon only in times of high ritual.
Some NPC feral maenads have been known to take to the battlefield when
their homelands are invaded, fighting alongside  but not side-by-side
with  their more civilized neighbors. When the feral maenads race screaming
onto the field, its hard to say whom they terrify more, their foes
or their friends.

Hit Die:
d8.

Requirements

To qualify to become a
feral maenad, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.Skills: Craft (winemaking) 4 ranks, Survival 8 ranks
Languages: SylvanFeats: Great
FortitudeAlignment: Any chaotic.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
The feral maenad is proficient with all simple weapons, and gains no additional
armor or shield proficiencies.

Spells per Day: At 2nd
level, and at every other level thereafter, a feral maenad with levels in a
divine spellcasting class gains new spells per day as if she had also gained
a level in whatever divine spellcasting class she belonged to before she added
the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character
of that class would have gained (extra uses of wild shape as a spell-like ability,
turning undead and so on). In effect, she divides her feral maenad level by
2 and adds that to the level of whatever other divine spellcasting class the
character may possess, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly.

If a character had more
than one divine spellcasting class before she became a feral maenad, she must
decide to which class she adds each alternate level of feral maenad for the
purpose of determining spells per day.

Alertness: At 1st level,
the feral maenad gains Alertness as a bonus feat. If the character already possesses
the Alertness feat, this ability has no effect.

Low-Light
Vision (Ex):
At 1st level, a feral maenad gains Low-Light
Vision; she can see twice as far
as a human in conditions of poor light such as starlight or moonlight. She retains
the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. If the feral
maenad already possesses Low-Light
Vision, the range increases to three times
as far as a human can see.

Scent (Ex): At 1st
level, the feral maenad gains the Scent special ability, as detailed in the
MM.

Feral Talons (Ex):
At 3rd level, a feral maenads spiritual surrender to her bestial nature
grants her a claw/claw/bite attack routine. Damage for these attacks is determined
by the characters size. The two claw attacks are made at the characters
normal melee attack bonus, while the bite attack is made with a 5 penalty.
The claw attacks receive the characters full Strength bonus to damage,
while the bite receives 1/2 the characters Strength bonus. The feral maenad
is considered armed at all times, always threatens out to her reach, and may
make attacks of opportunity with her
natural weaponry.

Feral
maenad Natural Weapon Damage

Character Size

Claw Base
Damage

Bite Base
Damage

Small

1d4

2d4

Medium

1d6

2d6

Large

1d8

2d8

Healing Draught (Su):
Also at 3rd level, by consuming enough wine to get drunk, a feral maenad
may regain hit points as if having rested for an eight-hour sleep. The feral
maenad may heal hit points in this fashion only once per day.

Drunken Rage (Su):
Beginning at 5th level, a feral maenad can enter a berserk frenzy when consuming
Alcohol, or when Alcohol remains in her bloodstream. Even a mouthful of wine
is enough to send the feral maenad into a drunken rage; the power is a spiritual
rage rather than a side effect of drunkenness. The feral maenad does not automatically
enter into a drunken rage whenever she takes a drink or even becomes drunk;
she enters the state when she chooses, and may end it when she likes.

While in a drunken rage,
a feral maenad gains a +4 bonus to Strength and Constitution, but suffers a
2 penalty to Dexterity. The increase inConstitution grants the feral maenad additional hit points equal to 2 points
per character level, although these hit points go away at the end of the drunken
rage when her Constitution returns to normal, and are not lost first in the
manner of temporary hit points.

In addition, while in her
drunken rage, the feral maenad gains a Spell
Resistance score of (11 + character level) against mind-affecting spells
and spell-like abilities.

While raging, the feral
maenad cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (save
<a href="skill%20balance.htm">Balance</a>, Escape Artist,
Intimidate and Ride).
She may use any feat she possesses except Combat
Expertise, item creation and metamagic feats; she cannot activate magic
items that require a command word, spell trigger or spell completion to function.
She can cast divine spells while in a drunken rage, although she must make a
Concentration check to do so (DC 20 + spell level), and she cannot cast any
spells with a casting time longer than one action.

A feral maenad can fly
into a drunken rage only once per encounter. The rage lasts for a number of
rounds equal to 3 + her rage-enhanced Constitution modifier; she may end it
prematurely. At the end of the drunken rage, the feral maenad becomes fatigued
for the duration of the current encounter. A feral maenad can enter a drunken
rage once per day at 5th level, twice per day at 7th, and three times per day
at 9th level.

Feral maenads who gain
rage abilities from other sources (such as levels in barbarian) do not combine
rage abilities with the drunken rage ability. Thus, a 9th-level barbarian/1st-level
druid/5th-level feral maenad can enter a barbarian rage three times per day
and a drunken rage once per day; while in a barbarian rage, she cannot cast
divine spells, and she can enter a barbarian rage without the benefit of Alcohol.

Liver of Bronze (Ex):
At 5th level, the feral maenad has developed a powerful resistance to poisons
 the character gains a natural bonus to saves versus poisons equal to
1/2 her feral maenad level (rounded down).

Multiattack (Ex): At
5th level the feral maenad gains the benefits of the Multiattack feat. Her secondary
attacks with her natural weapons suffer only a 2 penalty on attack rolls
rather than the usual 5.

Pounce (Ex):
At 7th level, if a feral maenad charges a foe, she can make a full attack.

Rend (Ex): At 9th
level, if a feral maenad hits with both of her claw attacks, she deals an additional
amount of rending damage equal to double her claw damage base die, plus 1/2
her Strength bonus. For example, a feral maenad with a Strength of 20 who deals
1d6 +5 points of damage with a claw attack, deals 2d6+7 on a successful rend
attack.

Savage Talons (Su):
At 10th level, the feral maenad gains a permanent +2 enhancement bonus to all
unarmed attacks, including her claws, bite and grappling checks. Her natural
weaponry is considered magic and chaotic for purposes of bypassing damage reduction.

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